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""We could bore ourselves to death, drink ourselves to death, or
have a bit of an adventure..." "It was absurd. It was foolhardy.
And it was glorious. When they retired, Terry Darlington and his
somewhat saner wife Monica--together with their dog, a whippet
named Jim--chucked their earthbound life and set out in an utterly
unseaworthy sixty-foot canal narrowboat across the notoriously
treacherous English Channel and down to the South of France.
Aboard the "Phyllis May, " you'll dive through six-foot waves in
the Channel and be swept down the terrible Rhone. You'll meet the
French nobody meets--poets, captains, scholars, madmen; they all
want to know the couple on the painted boat and their narrow dog.
You'll visit the France nobody knows--the backwaters of Flanders,
the canals beneath Paris, and the forbidden routes to the wine-dark
Mediterranean Sea. Aliens, trolls, gongoozlers, killer fish, and
the walking dead all stand between our two-person, one-whippet crew
and their goal: the ancient, many-towered city of Carcassonne.
A tale of travel, travail, dubious wine, a balky pump, and a boat
built for only a few feet of water, this exuberantly inventive and
hugely entertaining odyssey of the spirit, senses, and heart will
enchant lovers of France, England, and all that lies between.
'WE COULD BORE OURSELVES TO DEATH, DRINK OURSELVES TO DEATH, OR
HAVE A BIT OF AN ADVENTURE...' When they retired Terry and Monica
Darlington decided to sail their canal narrowboat across the
Channel and down to the Mediterranean, together with their whippet
Jim. They took advice from experts, who said they would die,
together with their whippet Jim. On the Phyllis May you dive
through six-foot waves in the Channel, are swept down the terrible
Rhone, and fight for your life in a storm among the flamingos of
the Camargue. You meet the French nobody meets - poets, captains,
historians, drunks, bargees, men with guns, scholars, madmen - they
all want to know the people on the painted boat and their narrow
dog. You visit the France nobody knows - the backwaters of
Flanders, the canals beneath Paris, the heavenly Yonne, the lost
Burgundy Canal, the islands of the Saone, and the forbidden ways to
the Mediterranean. Aliens, dicks, trolls, vandals, gongoozlers,
killer fish and the walking dead all stand between our three
innocents and their goal - many-towered Carcassonne.
"From Virginia to Florida in an English canal boat.
Join the authors of "one of the most hilarious travel memoirs ever
written"* on a wild odyssey aboard one of the most unlikely craft
ever to sail U.S. waters.
"No one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the U.S.
before--for reasons that become clear when Terry Darlington, his
wife, Monica, and their well-traveled dog, a whippet named Jim,
begin a nine-month voyage down the 1,150-mile Intracoastal
Waterway. But no sooner do they set out in the seven-foot-wide
"Phyllis May" than they encounter an ice storm in Virginia and
piranhas in North Carolina. The Georgia coast is a madman's jigsaw
and in Florida the alligators wait patiently for Jim. But as they
wend their way through golden marshes, incomparable cities, and
lost arcadias, the intrepid trio aboard the beautiful painted boat
reveals a South few of us have ever seen. And with frequent stops
to dine on sweet tea, grits, and the freshest of the day's catch,
they make plenty of strange companions along the way--from
wayfarers stopping to give Jim a good scratch behind the ears to
ex-CIA agents and the Good Ole Boys of the Deep South--and discover
that everyone has a story they're only too willing to share.
Beautifully written, lovingly observed and very funny, Narrow Dog
to Indian River takes you on a dangerous, surprising, and always
entertaining journey through the wonderland of the South.
"*Booklist
"
Having survived their voyage to Carcassonne, you might expect
pensioners Terry and Monica Darlington and their whippet, Jim, to
retire to a comfortable corner of their favourite pub. But no, they
looked to the New World for an extraordinary new adventure...
No-one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for
reasons that became abundantly clear during the 9-month voyage of
the Phyllis May - including 30-mile sea crossings, blasting heat,
tornadoes, hurricanes and all manner of intimidating wildlife. But
the real danger came from the locals: the Good Ole Boys and Girls
of the Deep South. Colonels, bums, captains, planters, heroes,
drunks, gongoozlers, dancing dicks and beautiful spies - they all
want to meet the Brits on the narrow painted boat and their thin
dog and take them home and party them to death. Beautifully
written, lovingly observed, and very funny, Narrow Dog to Indian
River takes you on a dangerous, surprising and always entertaining
journey as a thousand miles of the little-known South-East Seaboard
unfold at six miles an hour- the golden marshes of the Carolinas,
the incomparable cities of Charleston and Savannah, and the lost
arcadias of Georgia and Florida.
At seventy-five, Terry and Monica Darlington had done everything
they could think of doing, including starting a business and
becoming athletes and running a literary society.Lately they had
become boating adventurers and Terry a bestselling writer. But in
their Midlands canal town in November, life was looking dull and
short on surprises. Then their famous canal boat was destroyed by
fire. Within a few days they had bought a new one and soon headed
north in the Phyllis May 2 - to Liverpool, Lancaster, the Pennines
and Wigan Pier. Terry recorded the journey, and alongside it the
story of his life and his marriage and his dog Jim, with his broken
ear like a flat cap, and Monica's dog Jess, known with
heartbreaking reason as the Flying Catastrophe. Funny, affecting
and beautifully told, this is a story that brims with incident and
excitement, and is full of the famous and fascinating people the
Darlingtons have met - a story of an adventurous life well lived.
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